Do we really need each other?
by TheBlueBomberBoomer
Summary: After getting into an accident. Boomer and buttercup find each other in a strange deal, can they help each other with their issues? Emotional, and mental. Contains boomer x buttercup
1. Mission

It was a cold winter morning in the City of Townsville. Snow had been raining down on the city since last night and it had been piling up ever since. At one home, a villain's lair on top of a volcano was being practically buried in it as well. "Ugh… this is annoying!" a young boy's voice rung out in the living room of the lair. He had a red hat on backwards with long orange hair that was sticking out from under it. He was wearing a red hooded coat that had black flames on it in various angles. The windows were all covered by snow as well, which was practically darkening the home. "Can you cram it, Brick? I kind of like the mornings like this, without the sun blasting my eyes while I'm sleeping," another boy similarly aged rung out from his nearby chair. He was wearing a green coat that had a big skull on the back of it with spiky black hair. For some reason, the darkness combined with the morning made him a bit calmer.

"I like it too. It'll clear off when dad turns on the external heat…" a blonde boy from the kitchen spoke, wearing a blue bubble vest that had black stars on random parts of it. He had his mouth stuffed with some cereal, though. They were the Rowdyruff Boys; Brick, Butch and Boomer, notorious villains in Townsville for causing random crimes with their superpowers, either out of their father's orders or out of boredom. Though it was usually boredom. "Ah, shut up, Boomer. Only reason you agree with him is because he got you that dumb game as a gift," the red ruff hissed. His blue sibling went back to silence to try and enjoy his cereal. It wasn't unusual that he got picked on somewhat for not having the best intelligence nor strength or focus. He wouldn't mind his brothers' teasing or bullying for lack of a better word if even their creator reassured him otherwise, but no difference sadly.

"BOYS!" a loud voice rung out, echoing to their ears. Butch groaned, getting off the couch and floating to the kitchen alongside his brothers. Boomer raised an eyebrow, seeing their simian father enter, wearing his usual heavily coated gear to tolerate the cold weather. He was Mojo Jojo a common villain, to say the least. He tried to be unique with his plans, but so far nothing had entirely worked how he wanted it to. He was the father to the triplets, at least one of the fathers. Sadly, the one they respected more had been killed over a year ago.

"What is it dad?" Brick just wanted him to cut to the point. Either it was going to be a rant about how he was frustrated or a rant about his newest plan. Boomer just continued to shovel his breakfast into his mouth. Either way his ears were already hurting. "I need one of you to run an errand for me…" he started. "I'm out," Butch declared walking away tiredly much to his father's annoyance.

"…as I was saying… I need something acquired for me. You see, there are some unearthly visitors outside of Townsville that have something I need for my new plan," Mojo explained to them, regaining the attention of at least Brick and Butch. "Aliens?! Can we go beat'em up!?" Brick excitedly requested, only for his father to annoyingly pat him on the head. "Calm down now. Yes, you can beat them up if you have to… but I'm not sending you on this mission," he said. Brick swore he could feel Butch plotting his taunt dance.

"What is it you need from'em?" Butch queried. "You aren't going either. I want Boomer to go," Mojo finally stated. The triplets all looked to their dad in confusion, Boomer deciding now was probably the best time to stop eating. "Wha… but why me? What if the aliens call in an army or something?!" Boomer protested. At this point he had self-doubt in his own fighting prowess. He couldn't tell why even with some form of training he still got the worst end of a fight. "For once the idiot's right," Brick agreed. Butch was just thinking of how many jokes he would be able to make of Boomer brutalized by the end of this.

"Enough! It is my decision on who and how to handle this… that is the problem, Boomer. You can't handle multiple threats. You just lack in a lot of areas… so I want to see if you can at least do this. I am tired of raising failures," Mojo Jojo outright admitted. This did anger two of the young boys. Boomer got demoralized by it, but the statement was dead on since the last heist they successfully pulled was a long time ago. They couldn't even remember the date. Most of their powers got used fighting a lost battle or a stalemate at best.

"Alright. I guess I'll do it," Boomer reluctantly agreed, not sure if he really meant it or it was just some blind determination to prove otherwise. Boomer just watched his brothers head back to another room to entertain themselves in the snowstorm, just letting their blue brother listen to the list of what it was he was supposed to get and what dangers will be there, beyond the obviously labelled aliens.

Before he really had all the information sink in, Boomer was flying through the sky above Townsville, leaving a dark blue streak of light behind him while flying. He just wanted to get this dumb task over with. Barely early in the morning and off to a bad start. He was wondering why his father knew aliens were around. Then again, it wouldn't be the first nor the weirdest attack the towns faced. Aliens were kind of up on the normal to attack. Boomer was more lost in his train of thought being considered a failure and such. He was starting to remember all of the fights he had been in where one of his brothers had to save him. Yet he played distraction a lot, so he couldn't blame himself entirely for those.

Boomer couldn't keep his mind on anything else, but his past screw ups. He remembered, how he even got Brick's leg broken once since their enemies had tried some new attack out on the blue ruff. His brother had blocked it for him at the cost of a good, painful fracture.

He sighed, while the snow obscured his vision. He wondered what it would have been like if it was just his two brothers, or maybe someone smarter as the third person. It always put him in a depression that made him question himself more and more to the point where he wondered why causing crime was even labelled as fun at this point, when all it resulted in was being injured. Boomer snapped out of it as he saw his destination coming into sight; one of a many farmlands that had been abandoned for various reasons. He landed, taking in a deep breath to calm down, ready to follow his dad's instructions. Aware if he wasted time that maybe the aliens would get beaten down by the towns heroes.

**Authors note: Hi all, sorry its been a while since I last wrote. Life kinda overwhelmed me for a while. I dunno whether to continue this or not, either way hope you enjoy it.**


	2. Fate?

Boomer pretty much had walked through the snowy farmland for a short distance. He was scratching his head in annoyance. It was the third acre at least he had been searching through. "I didn't get the directions wrong. Maybe they left?" he thought to himself. Honestly, it was either the aliens left already or the heroes of the town had come and brutalized them way before he had any chance to. He had doubts that the heroes even knew aliens were around currently, since they only appeared in a city damaging event. Then again, he had been away from his home for about an hour or so now. So he didn't know what could have happened by now.

Boomer felt some weird shaking feeling, realizing his thoughts had distracted him. As he glanced down, the snow pile he was standing on was slowly rising in the air. He didn't anticipate some form of surprise trap, though he assumed it was meant for an entirely different group of people. Boomer just flew out of the way and turned back to see the snow being thrown off, unveiling the UFO; a silver colour to it, sleek in design. Boomer didn't find it that impressive until he saw the bottom of it open up and an odd looking cannon spring from it. The UFO opened fire with a giant burst of energy, but Boomer dodged out of the way easily. He saw the blast land in another part of the field and watched it leave nothing but a huge burnt crater and melted snow.

"Hope I can do this right…" he muttered, watching the flying saucer attempt to assault him again. Hearing the sound of the blast, he swooped past it and crashed right into the UFO. His hands gripped through the metal plating, just ripping out whatever his hands got a hold of until the space ship began to descend faster than he thought. It dug into the ground hard and threw him off the cannon, being messed up, partially dangling from a few wires.

"Ow! That hurt, you jerks! …just gimme that shiny thing you power the ship with and I'll go!" Boomer shouted. That was what he was there for. His father ordered him to get the extra-terrestrial power source, and he wasn't going to leave without it. Boomer got annoyed when there was no response, but he was basking in his own glory, glad he did it successfully with ease. He approached the cockpit and kicked it open, only to find nothing. "Uh… did I kill the pilot?" he scratched his head, perplexed by the lack of blood or alien goo in the ship. There was no sign of a driver in it at all. Just then, Boomer felt a sharp pain shoot up his back. He let out a scream of agony before falling onto his side. The snow helped cool it off, somewhat but it felt like he had fallen into a nuclear power plant. There was nothing but a burning and tingly pain.

Boomer coughed, seeing the short grey creature nearby, looking at least happy to have landed its shot. It had a weird ray gun that was readying its next shot up. This time, Boomer fired his ray of heat vision in rage, and luckily he was close enough to hit the alien dead on, burning it to a crisp and watching it plop onto its back. Boomer sighed in relief. He had to force himself onto his own two feet again. He just growled while floating over to the alien's unconscious body before beginning to kick it and stomp on it a few times mostly out of leftover anger. It depressed him again to know even if it went smooth he screwed up. He tried to not let it bother him for longer before going over to the ship to begin ripping it apart for the power cell his dad sent him to get.

Boomer just smiled, ripping out the shiny cylinder from part of the ship he tore open, though he was noticing that he was feeling a lot colder. His side wouldn't stop hurting, too, and he was feeling something that was getting wet that just made him colder. Normally, he ignored his injuries, but he thought this might be better to check. When he did right away, there was a red stain on a side of his shirt and pants. He lifted his shirt, eyes widening when he saw a grave injury. A small part of his side had been destroyed by that one laser blast. "Ooh, dang it!" he shouted, just gripping the affected area to try and stop the blood flow. He didn't think one blast would do that kind of damage. But he never fought aliens before, so he had no clue what he could expect beforehand.

"Guess I need to get home fast…" Boomer told himself. Before he even attempted to fly though, he got stopped by that nagging feeling again. The same feeling that he always failed. "…Maybe… this was fate…" he mumbled. The snow continued to fall around him. He could see a nearby forest, too. He could just wander off and be assumed missing. His brothers would be happy he left and would, or could, never return. Boomer looked at the dumb power core. Either way, if he had gotten out of this unharmed, he would have probably just been told he got lucky, like his whole success was a mere fluke. With that, he threw it on the ground before the blonde ruff began his trek into the forest, leaving behind droplets of blood as well. The trees were so heavily covered in snow that the sun could barely just peek through.

One step after another, Boomer felt more and more lightheaded. His body felt like it was on pins and needles. The frostbite levels of temperature were just about top-notch. Boomer could not resist just hearing all of the insults from over the years echo in his head, that he was an idiotic failure. "At least they'll be happy…" he sighed before collapsing beside a tree. His will didn't possess the strength to walk any further. He just wanted it to be over with at this point. "Huh… dying slowly feels… kind of peaceful…" he had to admit to himself. It was oddly strange, slowly losing feeling of things as the world seemed to be darker. But that might be just a result of his environment. The first time he died was by an explosion from a kiss. Perhaps it was just an appreciation for taking in his second chance in life. The more respectable parent that had revived them being dead still saddened him. He sighed at what he had been doing with his life. He laid his head back on the tree, just closing his eyes, hoping his family would live and survive better without him.


	3. Savior

Back at the destroyed UFO, three streaks of light overhead were flying toward it. One was pink, one was blue, and one was green. The trio of people landed, seeming to be another set of triplets similarly aged. They all seemed to be lost in a bit of confusion upon first glance of the surrounding area. They could see a crater, more snow, and just random scrap metal from the destroyed alien craft. "Looks like someone did it for us. …wellp, better head home," one girl spoke. She had raven black hair, and she was wearing a yellow sweater on top of her green coat that had black stripes going in jagged patterns throughout various parts of the clothing.

"Buttercup, you know we have to investigate," the girl with long orange hair replied back. She wore a pink snow cap on top of her head, and a pink coat on that had black flowers on random parts of it. She was the proclaimed leader of the group, and she was interested in what happened more before they arrived than why honestly. Either way, threat eliminated. Buttercup just huffed in annoyance, though she looked over to see that their blonde sibling had also found something. "What is it, Bubbles?" she approached, though she stopped shortly behind her sister. The blonde girl was wearing ear mittens and gloves on top of her scarf, and a blue coat that had random black musical notes on it in various patterns and shapes. She had the misfortune to find the crisp alien that had been long since defeated.

"Well, guess that's where the pilot went," Blossom commented from afar while rummaging through more of the shrapnel. "How do you think he got burnt?" Bubbles had to ask, wondering how the alien pilot could be far away from his ship like that. She didn't see any other damage that looked like a fire could be the cause. Buttercup was very bored already. She didn't want to waste her time just trying to find out who saved them ten minutes in a one sided fight.

Buttercup just kicked the snow boredly noticing something the area she kicked up. Underneath it was specs of red that was getting vaguely covered by the heavy snow still pelting. "I'll uh… go look over here…" she said. The blood being an entirely different direction than the aliens did make her curious. "Go ahead!" Blossom called out, just appreciative that she was taking place in the research at least, knowing that they would go home soon if nothing could be found and just chalk it up as a lucky break.

Buttercup had barely started into the forest and already she was hesitant. Following any amount of blood seemed like a horrible idea while theorizing various people that might have tried to fight the saucer. She doubted the Lumpkins would be bothering anything other than a few hunting targets. She could care less if they did find something of interest. It was just a waste of time. They could have spent relaxing by a warm fire, at least. Her thoughts got cut short when the blood trail did seem to get a little heavier, the snow having not reached it as easily since the trees kept catching the flakes.

Buttercup stopped in her tracks, practically frozen. Her eyes popped wide when it gazed upon the end of the trail. Boomer lay there, his pants and part of his shirt drenched in his own blood. She nearly screamed, but she stopped herself, just taking a second to gather herself. She had helped in lots of horrific accidents before, and yet it didn't help that she didn't know why he was like this. But words didn't need to be used to see what was wrong. Buttercup lifted his shirt, seeing the still bleeding area. It looked no better than before. It looked a lot worse from the cold trying to eat away at his insides. Boomer was faintly breathing. Buttercup put a hand over his mouth before her eyes glowed red. She fired her concentrated heat vision at the injured area. If it wasn't going to stop bleeding on its own, cauterizing was the only option. The worst thing about doing it to an injured person was their reaction.

Boomer suddenly lurched. He was held against the tree by the green Powerpuff, a still somewhat loud muffled scream escaping from his held lips. Boomer's eyes were watering. He barely calmed down when seeing Buttercup. He had an instinct to just kick her away so he could get back to his peaceful end. "Be quiet. That's going to hurt for a while," she insisted, taking her hand away from his mouth before she took her own scarf off and began wrapping it around the injury. He just cringed, feeling the sharp pain shooting through his body again.

"Wh-why are you here?!" Boomer demanded, upset. His tone was unexpected. Buttercup didn't expect any thanks from the Ruff, but still. Normally the Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys didn't get along, always fighting over the mayhem the boys caused. For some reason, she forgot that part entirely when she saw him in his condition, though it was now when she realized how the UFO was destroyed and the alien was burnt to death. "Saving your life… duh," she nonchalantly answered, wondering why he was upset like this. Boomer faced away from her. He wanted to just fly away, but he was too weak. His legs couldn't even pick him up. He couldn't try to punch her away, either. It just made him feel more pathetic.

"Are you crying? …I know it hurts but it'll go away soon," she reassured. The last time she saw someone cry this much was the female counterpart of his, Bubbles, after a lawnmower accident with her favorite doll. She found it odd, because whenever the Ruffs got upset, the three would just take out their rage on one another, insistent on just 'sucking it up'. "No! Just… why are you… you stupid Puff!" he spat the only insult he could come up with. She didn't bat an eyelash at his remark. She had another thought process going on in her head. If Boomer was this upset that she saved him, it only meant one thing. "Buttercup! We're going home! Come on!" Bubbles' voice echoed from the woods. Boomer just stared at the colorless ground tears pouring down his face, either from pain or his mental suffering. Or perhaps both. Buttercup couldn't just leave him like this, either way. " You go on! I'll catch up!" she called back to Bubbles, her voice echoing to her. Turning back, she sighed and just pondered what to do with the sorrowful Ruff before her.


	4. Deal

Boomer stared into space. He had no specific thing in sight. His eyes were just affixed to the floor in front of him. He was wrapped up in a blanket in a house that had no furniture, but a fireplace that was lit. A small home with no furniture practically matched the empty feeling he had right now. His side had some gauze and bandages on it, now that the burning sensation had stopped and was now replaced by an average pain that refused to go away. The surrounding environment was dark. He saw the snowstorm raging outside the window. He was glancing outside when he saw that window open up, and the familiar Powerpuff Girl climb in through it. She just slid it back closed behind her.

"You still breathing?" Buttercup rhetorically asked. Boomer nodded. She had brought him to a foreclosed home in town. It was the only idea she had because if she went to his family, they would probably start some unwelcome fight, and if she brought him to her house there would be so many questions and assumptions she didn't even want to tolerate right now. The best idea she had was just treating him privately until he was well enough to just go on his own. So far, he was still too weak to fly or use many powers, but at least he was able to move his extremities.

"Thanks for handling the alien for us," Buttercup told him, having put two and two together a while back in the back of her head. She wanted to just insult him, but having found him near dead and how he reacted, it didn't take much to figure out why he got so upset. "So… you tried to kill yourself?" she started, sitting down beside him in front of the fire while removing her coat. Boomer just exhaled a breath, knowing he was going to be pestered a lot, no matter what. "No. Not at first anyway. The alien just got a lucky shot on me," he said, trying to brush it off as nothing but a mere coincidence that the alien's weapon had a power disabling blast on it.

"You're a horrible liar," Buttercup commented. "I know…" he frowned while pondering whether she was worth telling his sad tale to or not. He doubted she would care either way. "I just wanted to be happy, y'know? You've seen me in a fight. I can't hit hard, fight well, or outsmart anything but a rock…" he began, not moving his gaze away from the crackling flames. The green puff's eyes rolled. The obvious was already well beyond stated, but she was aware being bad at fighting was no reason for one to commit suicide over. "And my brothers just kept getting hurt because of me. My dad told me today I was a failure, and he was getting sick of raising us…" Boomer finished explaining. The ending was where it kind of clicked for her. Him being called a failure by the very person that created him. She couldn't imagine what it felt like if her father had even remotely said that to her or her sisters.

"If you thought dying was going to make them happier. Big mistake," Buttercup warned him far too late. He already allowed a near death experience. She honestly expected to find him dead the second she left him alone for a minute, again having been in and out of the foreclosed building to acquire medical equipment, having learnt how to treat injuries from on sight emergencies. "How d'ya know?" Boomer requested. Seeing his deep blue eyes just sent some odd guilt throughout Buttercup's puff body.

"You think because we beat you boys all the time means we win no matter what? You'd be amazed how much we lose," Buttercup admitted. This did catch his attention. "But you guys are always in the news for…" Boomer got cut off. "For what we did right! Or at least what we think we did… a few months ago, an apartment complex collapsed and we wound up having to help move rubble. Some poor guy in the lowest part of it wound up getting one of his lungs pierced. He gave me his watch and begged me to take it to his son. I did what I could, but he was doomed, and hearing his family cry just… just… uugh! Now, whenever I fly through that area, I feel like I'm going to have a panic attack…" Buttercup exclaimed like a burst of upset, mixed with anger and sadness, had taken over at once, but she couldn't decide which would fit.

Boomer just kept looking at the raven haired girl in awe. "Not to mention how many get hurt in half the giant monsters that come by, and the worst part… they're always thankful… even if someone they were close to died, they were thankful to us. Bubbles gets over it easier because Blossom and the professor always tells us we can't save everyone…" she finished, somewhat panting. She now looked just as bad as he did, unstable and covering her mouth. Depression swarmed over her like the snowstorm wasn't bad enough. "I've nearly gotten my sisters killed a few times. I envy you Ruff boys, with your laid back attitudes. Guess that isn't how you are though…" she admitted.

Boomer just looked around, awkwardly knowing he was nowhere near as bad as she was in some regards. "So we're both bad?" he wondered. The first thought that came to mind. She shook her head, letting out a light giggle from his response. The innocence behind it made it a little cheerful to hear at least. He was speaking again. She was trying to ignore the fact that the closer she bonded with him, the harder it would be to hit him next time. If they fought than again, she never had a problem with hitting friends, since she and her sisters occasionally sparred with each other.

"Yeah. We're both bad," Buttercup agreed. The two were now just more focused on the fire than each other. "…what if we helped each other?" Boomer recommended, noticing her forest green eyes glaze over slightly. She was wondering what he meant by that. "If you say help,you kill yourself. I am going to leave right now..." she forewarned him. He threw his hands up defensively. "N-no! I was thinking maybe you could… you know, help me get stronger?" he requested, expecting a retort at his lack of intelligence. "…well… what'd be in it for me?" she glared, trying to keep the tough assertion act up at least. To help an enemy get better at fighting would be like agreeing to only use one arm in a fight, and it sounded stupid.

"Uh… I could play training dummy for you. And get knocked out in a few of our fights if you hit me in the head once? And maybe I can help you with your issues," Boomer proposed. Buttercup had her head resting on her hand. Someone to actually talk to, about her inner issues that actually would not brush it aside and try to help her cope with it instead. Though if it wasn't for that suicide attempt, she would assume he was trying to set her up as some trap.

"Okay, then, Boomer. Just don't tell anyone about what happened," Buttercup added before offering her hand to him. He smiled happily before shaking her hand. That smile… Buttercup found it warming and reassuring already. The blue ruff was a little annoyed that he would have to think up a lie for his brothers, and like she said earlier, he was bad at lying. Maybe it was better to stay off the subject of his family for now.

"Well, it's still snowing heavy… why don't we work on something you really need; to think before you speak," Buttercup suggested. Boomer knew this was going to be a long couple of hours if it was to work on his speech issues. He was just happy that she already was trying to help. It did take his mind off the injury, even if it ached and throbbed occasionally. The two then spent hours talking between one another.

**Authors note: I'd like to apologize in advanced, if chapters don't come out nearly as fast. The main reason why these first 4 came out in quick organization, is due to my net being down when I started making this fanfic. So I will try to update as soon as plausible.**


	5. Beginning

Buttercup arrived back home at around eight in the evening. The snowstorm had lightened up a lot, but still, it was letting random snowflakes pile on the ground. She was relieved at the time just for the fact that she barely made it on time. She entered inside the home. "I'm home!" she called out while removing her thicker winter gear to hang it up on the coat rack. "Welcome home, Buttercup!" Bubbles' cheerful voice rung out as she came into the living room. Buttercup always found it impossible to be anything but slightly joyful around her blonde sibling. "Where were you? Professor's cooking is no good once it's cold, you know," she reminded. The blue puff had been a little worried about her sister since she left in the middle of the day after the investigation at the farm.

"I ate at a friend's, sorry," Buttercup patted her back, lying, somewhat. She had eaten before seeing, Boomer but she was unsure whether or not to call him friend with their deal. He felt more like a listener type of associate. "Wanna just go play some games?" she offered. The blue puff nodded, never turning down a chance at fun. Just then, the sound of ringing could be heard. Both of them knew it meant fun was stopped for now. They saw their orange haired sibling come downstairs. "Giant monster, girls. The usual," Blossom spoke. At this point the triplets had grown far beyond used to the giant monster fights. After putting back on their snow gear, the trio darted out the window, leaving their three streaks of colorful light behind.

As they flew across the city, Buttercup just kept to herself while the three were arriving to the area that was about to be assaulted. They heard a loud scraping noise and could see some weird robot made of scrap metal. It let out a loud roar before it charged at the three of them. The enemy bot looked entirely made from junk yard material. It swung one of its over sized scrap hands at them. The girls all flew around it, the beast smashing a chunk out of a building, some of the rubble falling on the streets below. The sounds of screaming civilians could be heard. The noise was echoing in Buttercup's ears from her super hearing, and she didn't like it. It was making her breath a bit heavier as she glared at the loud machine. Her heart already was picking up in pace.

"Plan A, girls!" Blossom's voice rung out. Buttercup nodded to the Powerpuff leader before they split up, Bubbles and Buttercup flying lower to the monster's knees. Bubbles fired a ray of heat vision directly into its right knee to attempt to melt it. Buttercup however darted straight into the back of its other knee at top speed, the sound of a giant metal crunch metal being heard upon collision. With both legs partially battered, the robotic beast tumbled over, threatening to land on the people below like they were ants. Buttercup immediately flew under it and caught it. It was heavier than she expected, for being a practical junk heap. Blossom flew to its head along with Bubbles. The two began to pummel and smash into its head. The monster just seemed to allow them to do it. Each hit made it move less and less, until finally it ceased functioning.

Buttercup let out a sigh of relief as her sisters help pull the piece of junk to a less civilian filled section in the area. "That was easy…" the raven haired girl forced out a laugh, only gaining concerned looks from her sisters. They could tell she was a bit unnerved. She was sweating, trying to catch her own breath, and her forest green eyes looked like they had seen a ghost. "Buttercup, we could've beaten it easier if you had stuck to the plan. You broke its leg, yes, but the plan was to use energy at a distance and then attack directly after weakening…" Blossom reinstructed her what the plan was, only then gaining a distinctly angry glare back. "I know the plan! …I just wanted it to be dealt with quicker…" she sighed, Bubbles getting between the two before a fight could break out. "Look, it's destroyed. Shouldn't we be worried about who made it?" Bubbles tried to forcibly change the topic.

"Whoever it was, we'll catch him later. If he's just making worthless robots…" Buttercup dismissed once she had regained her composure. The siblings all flew off, leaving it to the town to clean up the heaping metal scrap yard that was left of the robotic enemy.

Boomer was floating up to his home, having recovered enough to finally get around again, pretending like nothing had happened, but it didn't do much for him. He was more pondering on why Buttercup had been so honest with him or helped him for that matter. He didn't care. He was just glad to at least have gotten some revival in his spirit, though sitting for a few hours on end, talking about how to think before speaking, annoyed him.

Boomer entered inside, knowing he had been away for most of the day. "Hey, look who's back!" Butch's voice rung out. He had been watching television, looking amused. They watched their father enter the room eagerly. "Finally, Boomer! Did you get it?" he was practically begging for the power source from the UFO to be handed over. Boomer paused for a second. He realized that he had thrown it away in his moment of anger when he attempted to let his own life slip away. He just had to think of a better lie. "Uh… sorry. I beat the UFO, but it blew up, and the piece was destroyed…" he lied. This did seem to anger his father. He just slapped his forehead, having grown angrier. He sighed in frustration, before patting his sons head. "It's alright. At least you beat it easily," Mojo reassured before turning to walk away, his cape flicking Boomer's face.

"So you screwed up and destroyed it. And where were you all that time?" Butch commented, assuming his blonde sibling had already been lying. It wasn't that hard to tell. This time he was having some difficulties though. "I went to hang out around town after the fight," he answered, still lying, attempting to just make straight for his room. "Whatever ya say, idiot…" Butch murmured. Boomer froze on his tracks. He turned back and just took in a deep breath. "At least I don't look like a stupid porcupine!" Boomer shot back. Butch was stunned. This was the first time he saw his sibling take a shot back at him. Usually, any insult got brushed off, but this time the blue ruff insulted his sibling's hair style. It was very spiky, indeed. It felt demoralizing to Butch, but to Boomer, it just felt great to see his brother get sad instead of him for once. He just hummed before continuing to his room.

Brick stood in the kitchen doorway, wondering what had just happened. He found it funny since it was a sibling fight, but it also made him curious what was going on. Things were feeling reversed today. He just presumed it to be a side effect of a snow day.


	6. Training

Boomer was lying in bed. It was around ten in the morning on this average Sunday, even after the long sleep, and nothing else but mere resting. He felt drained, still. He looked around his room, seeing nothing special. He had a bed that was just on the floor with his alarm clock lying nearby that had seen its fair share of cracks and assaults for doing its job. He saw nothing special beyond the posters of various bands he happened to like similarly to his sibling Butch. His reaction was still fresh in the blonde's memory. He was happy, thinking on it, taking a pot shot at his brothers own characteristic just felt way too good. He was mostly trying to figure out why it felt good instead of feeling like he couldn't get out of bed.

He saw the time, and got up beginning to put on his winter gear. "Guess I better get going…" Boomer thought before beginning to fly off, leaving a dark blue streak of light behind. He felt a bit more joyful in the day, but he was not sure why. He was aware of the agreement he had with the Powerpuff, though. He had agreed to meet up with her around this time a few times a week to train and get better in certain areas. He knew it was going to be hard for winter, but if he wanted to get better and more skilled, he had to just tolerate the pain and not let himself get weak by lying in bed constantly. It was sore to move, but he sucked it up. He was used to that form of injury and many others he had in his past.

Boomer found himself at an area in town that was dedicated to nothing more than big sized warehouses that were mostly used for storage. He walked around, seeing the various numbers on each building. "D-2… D-3… D-4…" he muttered the building's labels, each one he passed, until he saw D-5. He hesitantly approached the door of it, twisting the cold knob that was unlocked, and opening the door. He made sure no one was looking before he entered, closing the door behind him. The sooner out of the cold, the better. "Hello!" Boomer called out, hearing his slightly echoing voice. Around him were stacks of wooden crates and objects. The place was clearly just being used as a junk storage unit at best.

"Hey! I was thinking you weren't going to show up!" the familiar voice chimed. He saw Buttercup who was just leaning against the wall, having been waiting for him to do her part of the agreement. "Hi, BC," he smiled, glad to see his green friend. He attempted to approach her, but he got stopped by one hand motion. "Ah. Before we start, I wanna see your dominate hand," Buttercup demanded, her arms crossed. They were supposed to be training. The ruff wondered what she wanted with his extremity. He extended his left hand. His wrist then was grabbed by her. She rolled his sleeve up some, seeing the thin strands of little arm hair that were sticking up from the cold weather, but no signs of injuries.

"Professor always said lefties were rare," she joked. "Right… can I have my arm back? What are you even looking for?" Boomer requested, tugging his arm back, feeling uncomfortable around her. The raven haired Powerpuff just stretched. "Simple, cuts. I agreed to help you to make you feel better. I'm not gonna waste my time on something that's just going to die. If you give up on life, I give up on you. Simple as that," Buttercup elaborated before walking over to one of the crates. Boomer understood his practical teacher's reminder to their agreement, wondering if it was going to just be a regular check-up. His side twinged at the memory alone. It felt like some dream, though the fact that it happened was still processing in his head.

Buttercup just looked at the watch on her hand. "We're going to just work on your speed today. Just see how many you can smash in a minute," she said, letting him crack his knuckles and get ready. Boomer felt excited for some reason it was like. His mind got tampered with by her words, some odd motivation that didn't feel threatening or headache inducing, but relaxing. That soothing feeling was welcomed. "Get ready… Set… GO!" Buttercup called out, watching him launch forward, smashing three boxes instantly just by taking off like a mighty rocket. The big space allowed him to fly more. He spun around, diving into another set of empty boxes, smashing them to tooth picks. Buttercup watched boredly like she did it daily or had done it before.

"Aaaaand time's up!" the green puff's voice rung out as Boomer came to a screeching halt mid-air. "What? But I felt like I barely started…" he complained, seeing the tons of boxes below him. He just landed, sighing, wondering how she was able to keep up with how many he smashed. "And fifteen… not bad. But my records thirty five," Buttercup declared. Boomer just looked to his feet in disappointment, wondering how she could do it that fast. He knew for sure that he was about to spend a good while training with her.

"ARGH! ...Where is that idiot?! Dad wants to show us his new junk, and he hates it when we all aren't there!" Butch's voice roared around the room, practically hurting his brother Brick's ears. Butch flipped over the couch in anger. Brick and Butch had been looking for their blonde sibling for pretty long, but he was nowhere to be seen by them. Brick just kicked it back into its normal position. "Calm down, man. Dad doesn't care. He forgets the machines after they get smashed, anyway…" Brick insisted, wondering why things had been weird lately. He was hoping Boomer was growing a backbone of some form. It might help him a lot. The two brothers headed toward a staircase that led them into a dark huge room.

Upon entering, the ruff boys could hear the sound of tools, ranging from a welder, to a drill, to the pounding of a hammer. All types of noises just damaging their ear drums. "DAD! WHAT ARE YOU MAKING?" Brick screamed to his creator, not able to be heard otherwise over the loud noise. Mojo stopped with his tools and took off his safety goggles, allowing more of the lights to be turned on. They could see the machine itself. It looked like it had six legs and a box-shaped body. "What is this junk?" Butch tapped one of the legs, seeing their father jump down. "This? Nothing to what I am really working on. This is the Distractopus! Able to flee danger and cause harassment to certain areas of the city to distract the Powerpuff Girls! …They already destroyed my last machine," Mojo murmured, seeming to get mixed between anger and happiness in the one explanation. "Now, to tell you about your part of the plan…" the monkey grinned to his two present sons, who then cast happy looks to each other.


	7. Heroism

Boomer lay against the wall, looking at his hands. They were a bit bruised and sore, and band aids were covering parts of them. He had spent a great few hours punching crates into pieces. "Eighteen… by the end of it… that's a good improvement, I'd say," Buttercup's voice chimed as she sat beside him, trying to reassure him that being able to smash three more crates was still a good thing. But he wasn't much faster than before. It felt like all he gained was some sore injuries. He was happy to be with her, though in a warehouse, and with the cold weather outside, he couldn't tell why her assistance and reassurance made him feel more alive. He just dreaded the thought if they wound up having to fight for real, even if his end of the deal didn't get his brothers too suspicious.

"Thanks. How long do I gotta break these dumb things?" Boomer asked, finding it odd to just spend hours smashing inanimate objects. He didn't think there was much benefit of fighting something without blood or any retaliation. "Until you look ready to smash the next dumb thing," she simply said while looking at the time. It was getting a little after lunch. She stretched while beginning to head to the door with him. "Just keep your spirits up. You'll get better faster at this rate," she reminded him of prior motivation. Boomer's dark blue eyes stared into her forest green eyes and nodded. "Y-You're right. Just smash til I can't smash no more, huh?" he laughed nervously, feeling a sudden tension whelming his heart. The two stepped outside, and Boomer watched the Powerpuff fly off into the cold sky. He just stared at the green streak of light she left behind. The blonde boy turned his gaze to the white ground, beginning to just walk away, wanting to find another entertainment for himself.

"Ugh… that idiot left us with dad's junk again! Why does he always let'em get away with being lazy?!" Butch groaned. He and Brick were at the Townsville Bank, busy with their own activity in the cold, one of the many banks that had been assaulted plenty of times by villains, more than just them. "And heck; why are we doing this?! Why not just burst in there and burst out with the cash?" Butch added, the Ruff's having been sent to acquire something from the bank. Brick just fixed his hat on his head as some snow was gathering on his head while he assisted in setting up a strange looking electronic device to the back of the wall. "He said we could take some money if we could. But he wants something in the safe box 194," Brick began, knowing he had to shoot down all of his brothers complaints or he would hear an hours' worth of grating on his ears.

"And because he's probably going to try and throw us all out if we keep screwing up. Boomer's finally growing some minerals in that backbone, though, and that's getting dad happy anyway," Brick frowned. He disliked talking about his blue sibling in such a sense that would involve disownment from their father, but failing was failing, and a villain can only tolerate so many failed plans. It was depressing in every way. "Right… we just gotta wait for twenty minutes before we turn this dumb thing on. Let's get ready," Brick insisted. Butch nodded, the two going around to get to the front of the bank, to get ready with this plan their father had.

Boomer found himself wandering the city. He was passing the Oak Hollow Mall, his hands in his pockets, and his eyes more affixed to the ground. So far, no civilian had recognized him. That was something that did tap at the back of his mind; not being seen, let alone being seen as a threat, either. No one cared, because he hadn't done anything illegal. The last time the Rowdyruff Boys had done anything huge was a month ago after the major damage from their fight. He didn't entirely like the thought of being forgotten like some blank slate, but the more he thought about it, he felt happier instead of angrier. "Urgh! What is wrong with me?!" he shouted to himself, punching a decoratively planted tree, only to then get snow thrown on his head. Just then, the sounds of a shriek and crunching metal, followed by the ground shaking, snapped him out of his train of thought.

"What the-?!" Boomer stopped, seeing a car go flying toward him. He quickly flew up and caught the car before landing it on the ground. The last thing he wanted was to be assaulted right now. The car's roof was crushed partially, as he could see able. He then looked behind. There was the six legged robot, which he was unaware his father had created. It was the Distractopus in action. It pulled back its huge hands, and swung them into a lower area of a building, breaking a chunk out of it. The sound of cars screeching to a halt as the debris crashed into the ground pierced the air.

"You're annoying me! You know that?" Boomer shouted, flying up in the air, glaring menacingly at the machine before he fired a ray of heat vision at it quickly. The multi-limbed machine didn't get phased by it, though. It swung upwards and flung Boomer higher into the air, leaving a big bruise on his right cheek. This just enraged the blue boy even more. The robotic octopus reached up and tried to swat him down to the ground, but the blue ruff stopped, crashing into the ground, having caught the one huge hand it was using against him. Boomer growled, beginning to pull as hard as he could. He heard a grinding and creaking noise, and a sudden loud snap. The whole limb came off. Nuts and bolts flew off of where the metal arm was attached. He threw its arm back at it in rage, watching the mechanical opponent get forced on its back.

Boomer darted up into the air at top speed, his dark streak of blue light barely keeping up with him. The civilians around were just keeping eyes on the spectacle in awe. Normally they would be running in panic, but the situation looked grandly under control. Boomer flew back down at the robot before it could get to react. He had quickly collided with it, creating a giant, gaping dent in it and forcing it on the now cracked ground. The sounds of whirring and scraped metal could be heard by all as it tried to move. But it didn't stop Boomer from flying back up and repeating the same process three more times until all that was left of the machine was a broken chunk of metal, and the dent in the ground that he had pummelled it into.

Boomer was panting while glaring at it. Once he began to realize he had won, he smiled. "Hah! Yeah! I won! No stupid oversized bot's gonna beat me!" he mocked the deceased robot, wanting to dance, but his attention got drawn on the few civilians that were at the car that had been thrown at him to instigate the fight. "What's going on now?" Boomer begrudgingly asked. He had some subconscious desire to flee the area after winning so he didn't get stuck cleaning up the mess as well. But his ears only heard the sound of a baby crying. "Someone is still in there," a man in a suit claimed. Boomer knew that paramedics and fire fighters would take a while to open the car door, or even help whoever was inside.

Boomer bit his lip under pressure, against his mental judgement he decided to come over there. He grabbed the driver side door and pulled hard, and the door easily came off with his super strength. He rested it aside, his eyes focused greatly on a woman with blood running down her face from her head, assumedly from the roof of the car being crushed on her skull. He let the civilians get at her to help. He didn't know anything medically relevant beyond the fact that blood belonged inside the body, and not outside of it. The crying still was pounding at his eardrums, setting off twinges of guilt throughout his body that refused to go away. He went to the back of the car, pulling off the door to the back seat. He found a very young toddler in a car seat, still crying. Thankfully the young boy seemed unharmed. Boomer reluctantly picked the baby up from the car seat, rocking him in his arms. "Hey, hey. Calm down…" he tried to speak, not entirely sure how to handle a child.

The baby calmed down a lot once removed from the wreckage, looking up at him. Boomer started to process what he had done for the past ten minutes, to kill a robot and possibly save a lot of lives. "…Oh no…" he muttered. Because he had saved the people, he knew what this meant if his brothers found out. And with how many people who saw him, he was already becoming paranoid about this. Boomer stood, just lost in his train of thought.


	8. Failure

Brick and Butch were standing at the entrance of the bank. The red ruff was keeping an eye on his watch. "Has it been twenty minutes now?" Butch moaned, starting to get bored, wondering why their dad made such specific planning for a simple break in and break out. "Nineteen… get ready," the ruff leader insisted. His black haired sibling pulled out some ear plugs and stuffed them in his ear, same did his brother. "And twenty…!" Brick pulled out a remote and hit the button on it. They noticed the guard at the front entrance immediately fall onto his knees, grabbing his ears in agony. "Awesoooooome!" they both laughed the invention they had planted on the back of the bank wall, which was some form of high pitched sound device to hurt those in a fair radius without proper protection.

Buttercup was arriving home after the training with Boomer. She barely felt tired. Going through that exercise a lot on her own, it put in perspective how weak Boomer actually was in comparison to her and her siblings. Nothing but guilt was the feeling replaced afterwards. "Welcome home, Buttercup," her creator's voice rung out, seeing the man in the familiar lab coat and black hair that was getting somewhat white in age. Thankfully the few grey hairs were easy to remove or conceal so far. "Hey, Professor. Where's Blossom and Bubbles?" she asked while plopping down on the couch, glad to be out of the cold. "Well, they had to handle a situation at the bank. Nothing unusual though," he claimed. It was nothing major, at least what they made it out to be. The raven haired girl didn't care if it was a bank robbery. It would be wrapped up in three seconds, she assumed.

"Professor… can I ask for your advice on something?" Buttercup requested, feeling his reassuring hand pat her head. "Of course, Buttercup! What is it?" the professor sat beside her. He tried his best to show his full support, but mentally his mind was scattered in fifty different areas of panic, worried his daughter had gotten into some big trouble that couldn't be solved with punches. "Have you ever thought of disowning me…?" she had to exert her thoughts to try and find a similar ground like Boomer. She was aware that she wasn't the most behaved of the Powerpuff Girls, but there creator loved them all equally.

Professor Utonium just stared at her while trying to collect himself mentally. "Disown you? Sweetheart, don't be silly! You know I'd never even think of doing something horrible like that to you, even if you destroyed half the town. I know you're a hassle to handle, but sometimes a hassle is a good thing to have around, like an unpredictable element in an equation. It can cause all kinds of effects," he exclaimed. Buttercup did her best to pay attention, but when he started going into his scientific talk, she sort of got lost in that scientific talk maze. He had a smile. "I'm saying you being yourself is a good thing," he simplified it before pulling her into a hug. Buttercup enjoyed the embrace, but she had her gaze at the floor. She couldn't pry her thoughts off Boomer, which was annoying. She wished she had someone else to talk to about this, but since it was the blue ruff, that was out of the question.

At the bank again, Brick and Butch were rifling through all the various safes. They had broken into the vault with simple heat vision welding to cut through, and everyone in the building was in pain from the bloodcurdling noise. "Ah! Here it is. Box 194…" Brick hummed while his green brother laughed nearby, coming over carrying a big bag of money. He tore the lock off with his super strength and pried it open, only to then see an odd, tiny computer chip. "Really? That's what he wants?! That thing looks worthless!" Butch declared. The Rowdyruff leader shrugged while pocketing it. It was so small, so it only meant he could carry more money, but before he could even get his own bag filled, he noticed an odd tone shift. The civilians in the bank were now just either lying on the floor, looking relieved or attempting to regain their hearing.

"What's going on?" Butch took out his earplugs. "Did his dumb device break?" he pondered before they saw two similar height children at the entrance. "Good feeling it's broke alright…" Brick nodded. Both noticed Blossom and Bubbles standing before them, an unexpected confrontation between two and two. "I'll give you credit, that plan was more elaborate," Blossom taunted while they glared at one another. Brick knew this wasn't in the plan. He wondered what happened to the Distractopus that was supposed to buy them more time to steal the item and run away. "Just put the money down. We don't want any of the people hurt," Bubbles offered a surrender option to the Rowdyruff Boys. There were too many civilians around to fight like this.

Butch and Brick looked to one another. They had the same idea processing through their heads. Hating the thought of a pitied offer to escape, but if it made it easier. They dropped the bags of money. They got the chip their father wanted, and the girls were none the wiser. "Alright! For once, we'll listen. You girls are pretty cool," Butch feigned a smile, trying to polish their egos. Brick rolled his eyes. "We just were soooooo bored!" Brick added onto the lie while they approached the entrance to exit the building. The two puffs were keeping eyes on them heavily. The Ruffs flew off, leaving a dark red and green streak of light behind. The tension in the building let up, and the two sisters went to begin helping the civilians. There didn't seem to be one person that didn't have an earache.

"Oh-ho man! That was easy!" Brick was laughing while they flew through the sky. Butch could barely stop from snickering. "Oh, please. Just drop the money and maybe we won't hurt you…" he repeated what they heard earlier in the best girlish voice he mimicked, while they were arriving back at their home. Inside, Brick could see the familiar blue clothing hanging from the coat rack. "Looks like the idiots home…?" Butch got cut off, seeing Boomer who was sitting on the couch while their father was pacing angrily. "Hey. What's going on?" Brick asked. Mojo did seem less angry upon seeing them. "Did you get it?!" he demanded like an unexpected fury had burst from him. Brick handed the chip over. This did make their father in one tiny way happy. Clearly it was some part for another invention of his that the Ruffs would expect to fail like every other invention.

"Back to the matter at hand… please, take a seat. We have to talk about Boomer's… trouble with our plans lately," Mojo pointed to the couch. Brick and Butch took seats alongside Boomer who was just staring at the coffee table like his own energy had been sucked out of him and he was lost in his thoughts.

"Well… I hope you're proud of yourself, Boomer! You nearly destroyed the whole plan by smashing the Distractopus! You're lucky we got the chip before you could wreck the plan even more!" Mojo began with the loud shouting. "B-but it attacked me…" Boomer tried to retort, but his voice wasn't able to pick up the emotion to care. "The plan was for it to distract the Powerpuff Girls while we got the chip! You smashing it and saving a life… just… what is wrong with you?! You seem to not be able to do anything right!" Mojo continued his screeching. Butch had to agree with the 'doing nothing' part. "Dad, chill out," Brick tried to cut in, but his father motioned him to keep his mouth shut.

"You make me feel like I wasted time creating you. It's like you're trying to ruin us. And if that's the case, you aren't staying in this family," their creator finished. "You aren't saying it… are you?" Butch disbelievingly asked. "Get your things and go. You have two hours," Mojo simply ended the conversation there, walking out of the room almost like he had told his sons to throw out a dog or something. Boomer was breathing heavily, and Brick and Butch were trying to think of what to say. None of the three could come up with any words for this shocking moment.


	9. Never say goodbye

Broken.

That was the only word to describe him now. Boomer was walking through the snow, each step leaving another footprint behind. The snow was falling from the sky lightly again. It had been two days since he had been removed from his own family. Butch and Brick weren't happy about how accepting he was of the fact, but the more the blonde boy tried to think on it, the more confused he got. He should be upset, sorrowful and broken, wanting to just end it all. But he felt more or less the same, just happier. "Did I really hate them that much?" he wondered to himself, coming to a stop sign. The only items he had weren't many, just a bag of his valuables. What few he had was some food and money. Right now, he wanted to think of a plan on what to do with his life. He strongly considered just heading to Citiesville and going under disguise there.

Boomer only got closer to the bus stop, but found himself reluctant at the idea. "Maybe I should let her know…" he spoke, feeling another cold breeze run through him. Buttercup, the girl that at least kept him alive long enough to get himself together. He looked at his watch, debating mentally at the idea. Either she would be mad that he didn't show up for any training, but he didn't want to spend another night in the cold. He decided it was better to say goodbye to the closest person he had as a friend.

Buttercup was in her room, scribbling idly on her homework she had been assigned, though it had been easy to do lately, mostly because she had nothing else to do. All of her friends were either vacationing somewhere warmer or busy with their own issues. Bubbles however was helping clean up the most recent monster they had fought last night, and Blossom was helping the professor with his inventions in the laboratory, the alternative word for smashing them since half the time they went haywire.

Buttercup leaned back in her chair. The girls had gotten separate rooms since they got a few years older for privacy sake. Her room had a small bed with a green blanket on it and a desk in the corner, a computer resting idly atop of it. Various posters lined the walls, too. She heard a tap on the window. "Oh, don't tell me its hailing now…" she groaned, standing up and going to the window to see if the snowstorm had gotten worse. She felt her anger vanish upon seeing the familiar boy in blue standing in the cold, staring at the window. She looked over her shoulder and opened the window. "Boomer! Where have you been? You missed your training!" Buttercup angrily spoke. She couldn't keep the anger constant though he didn't look right, the way he stared up at her, his eyes only housing a look of various mixed feelings.

"Do you want to come inside?" Buttercup hesitantly offered, for some reason feeling guilty for shouting at him. He nodded, floating up to her window and climbing inside. She made sure the door was locked as he closed the window behind him. "Sorry for missing training. I needed to see you one last time… before I go to Citiesville," he claimed. She had a quirked eyebrow while sitting on her bed. "What? Are you cancelling the deal?" she angrily spoke. It made her a little upset at the thought, wondering if he really had tricked her, but if that was the case, he was really taming the taunting. "I guess you can say that. No point now. I beat a robot up dad made and saved a life…" he started rubbing his cold hands together slightly.

"And he wasn't happy with it? They found out?" Buttercup had to question, trying to guess if he was upset over them finding out and possibly berating the blue ruff over it. "No. It's dad. He's done with me. Brick and Butch couldn't do anything either beyond come up with ideas of assault," Boomer explained to her, recalling the conversation of where he had been told to get out. "You got thrown out of the family? I know he's evil, but maybe he's just having a tantrum…" she tried to reassure him, but if this had been going on for as long as he said, it usually meant it was far more than words of anger.

"I miss HIM. He was creepy but at least he didn't shout daily… But now, I wanted to come say goodbye and give my thanks," Boomer started, having the raven haired girl's attention, mostly. "You were right that I was stupid to think dying would be better than living. You made me feel great and stronger. Every time I was around you I felt happier and… I just can't stop thinking about you," Boomer finished. His voice was trailing off more toward the end of his sentence. A random bout of nervousness had decided to take over in the position of his cold feeling.

Buttercup stared at him, trying to take it all in. She took in a deep breath and exhaled to keep calm. She was not sure what to do. To beat Mojo up immediately on sight was a priority now though. "You helped me a lot, too," she reminded him, talking about her inner pain of failed minor heroics that once plagued her. But Boomer's presence made it a lot easier to sleep at night. "Talking to you just made things easier. The anxiety… the past… I felt calm. Not angry, depressed or annoyed. Just calm," she thanked him for the help, greatly appreciative, trying to force the words out of her mouth. Boomer grew a faint smile. "It was nice knowing you. Sorry for the beatings," he joked, gaining a sad grin from her. He began to head for the window to leave, worried he might get her in trouble.

Boomer suddenly got grabbed, feeling an unexpected warm embrace. He looked over his shoulder and found Buttercup hugging him close. She was now looking as bad as he was. That pained appearance in each other's eyes, meeting one another. "I-I need you, Boomer…" she stuttered out. He gently turned around, taking one of her hands in his. "And I need you, BC. But it's not going to work. Me, a worthless homeless loser with you? I already wasted enough of your time…" he said, only for her to hit his side that sent out a shockwave of pain throughout his body. It was a direct hit to the still healing injury that one struck him. He never realized how sensitive that was becoming.

"You aren't worthless!" Buttercup growled. Boomer saw the same anger he had seen so many times from their fights. He just sat there on the floor. That side hit really made him weak. "We really need each other, don't we?" Boomer spoke. Buttercup took a seat on the floor beside him. It was like he was playing with her emotions. Boomer reached over and wrapped an arm around her side. "Yeah… secret or not… we'll figure something out," she sighed, aware of what the calming feeling meant being around him. The offer of a relationship between a Ruff and a Puff. If she was offered this a year ago, she would just laugh it off and sock him in the face. But today, it was completely different. Silence began to take over between the two.

"You're the best, Buttercup…"


	10. A month later

It had been a long month since their brother had been kicked out of the family by Mojo Jojo. Brick and Butch were both in the kitchen, silent, just eating their food tiredly. To say that the use of the word idiot was at an all-time low was an understatement. They only had each other to insult and it didn't feel the same at all. They were bored of each other. They didn't have the morale. They could barely force themselves to do any orders their father gave them. "I'm bored," Butch said before chucking his bowl across the room and hearing it smash to pieces in the sink. Brick couldn't disagree with his spiky haired sibling. They were unsure where Boomer was now, and that alone was getting to their nerves at night when they weren't able to sleep, mostly because of their creator still trying to build inevitably destroyed machines.

"So… what do you wanna do then?" Brick coughed. The lack of dumb suggestions made it feel emptier. He watched Butch get up. "I'm gonna go back to bed…" Butch didn't care, beginning to leave, but before he could get past the kitchen door, they saw the familiar monkey standing there before them. "Ah, my children. I have good news-" before Mojo could finish his comment, Butch shoved him aside with his super strength. "Tell us later when and if I care," Butch hissed continuing to his own bedroom. Brick stayed seated at the kitchen table.

"What worthless piece of junk do you want us to steal?" Brick requested him to skip to the point. "Actually I want nothing stolen. In fact, I figured it was time I improved you boys," Mojo insisted, Butch stopping in the hallway and turning to their creator. "Whadd'ya mean? You saying we're weak, too?" Brick glared. The huge headed monkey shook his head threw his hands up defensively. "No, no! Don't worry! I mean we can experiment, and see if we can improve your strength, so it can surpass the Powerpuff Girls!" Mojo exclaimed. Before his evil laugh followed midway, it got interrupted when Butch coughed.

Mojo wanted to head to his lab to get ready, but then one of his boys voices rung out. "No way," Butch spoke, having stopped himself at the hall, getting an angry glare from his father. "What do you mean, Butch? Normally you love to see my inventions!" the smart monkey declared. Brick had to agree. This wasn't how Butch normally acted, but he couldn't side with his father if it involved them in some invention that would blow up in their faces. "Yeah. But normally there are three of us. Just face it, dad. Your junk's worthless," Brick commented in a bit of a snarky way, an underlying hint of anger in his voice.

"But boys, come on. I assure there are minimal risks," he implored as Brick was walking to the door angrily. Butch had already vanished the second his father turned his caped back. "Risk or not, we're not the monkeys here," he taunted before flying off, wanting to just enjoy the day away from his creator. It definitely wasn't the same. Boomer was gone. So now they weren't insulting each other. They were tolerant of each other which took out a lot of the enjoyment in the day and only left a solemn cloud of silence and boredom.

The sun shone a little on one of the piles of a foul junkyard. Part of which hit the lying, but still living, body of Boomer. His hands had a layer of dirt and muck staining them. He could hear the sounds of vehicles being crushed to bits and pieces by the machines. "Hey, kid! Another car got knocked off the track!" a loud voice rung out. Boomer groaned, rubbing his ear sorely. "Yes sir," he said, going over to a car that looked like it had been through a fire or two. He picked it up with his super strength and threw it on the conveyor belt, watching it get taken back to get crushed. Usually a big machine would be used to handle fallen cars like this. That was the main reason behind how he acquired the job of working in the junkyard. Though his boss would pay him in pure cash, while labeling him with the nickname kid. Boomer was happy to be able to live in Townsville, but he missed his siblings, even after he gained something better in trade of his family.

"Kid! You got a visitor!" one of his co-workers voice yelled out over the sounds of machines crunching away. Boomer smiled, going over and headed for the entrance of the junkyard at the wide open gate. There he saw her; Buttercup, standing there, looking a lot happier to see him. "BC! Hey! How has it been?" he asked, opening his arms to bring her into a hug. Buttercup hesitated, seeing his arms, but she accepted his embrace. It had been a month since they had decided to begin dating ever since the admittance to one another. They both had been happier than ever. Any issues either of them had was immediately dealt with, by the help of the other. "Ugh… I can barely get any sleep lately. The monsters are out at night more for some reason," Buttercup complained, but seeing his cheerful blue eyes kept her anger down a lot. Boomer was still trying to get used to her more affectionate side, seeing it so often.

"Alright. You ready to train when you finish here?" Buttercup questioned. Boomer nodded. "Of course! What are we working on? Speed? Strength?" Boomer excitedly queried, though she had a smirk on her face. "We're going to see if you have a 'special' ability. I'll be waiting for you at your place," she explained before beginning to leave to let him get back to work. Boomer though didn't have a home. The closest thing he had was that foreclosed home he had been living in just now that had the interior decorated with junkyard furniture. "Special ability?" he repeated, his eyebrow quirked, not sure what she meant.


	11. Planning

It was a little later in the afternoon for Boomer, as he was arriving to his home, the abandoned foreclosed building he had technically been living in illegally, but since the neighbourhood it was in wasn't so good in condition, there weren't many folks interested in buying the building, much to his luck. Entering inside, he saw his girlfriend resting on the couch, having been waiting for him and already did her homework so they could spend more time on training. "Too bad you aren't here every day," he joked, only for her to poke his side that made him cringe, but shut up simultaneously. "Yeah, me too, Boomer, but I pretty much gotta lie to see you, and if I vanished every day after school it'd kind of look odd…" Buttercup admitted with guilt in her voice. She couldn't lie every day about hanging out at a friend's for hours on end, but it made the time with him even more special. Hearing his voice was calming to her.

"Point taken…" Boomer coughed. "So, uh… what is this special ability stuff you're talking about?" he added, not sure what she meant by special ability. "Well. I only thought of it last night because of a fight, but Blossom and Bubbles have special powers that only they can use. I was thinking maybe you got your own, too" Buttercup elaborated. It was a theory, sure, but one that did hold some logic behind it. The idea is plausible, but if he did have a special signature ability, he certainly was oblivious to it. "Is this going to hurt…?" he asked while wiping some of the gunk off his own arms from work. "Dunno. But it'll be fun to try, right?" she shrugged, not really having much of a special ability of her own beyond being tougher than her sisters, but each one of the Puffs had their own advantages.

Brick and Butch were alone with one another on top of a hill. Nothing but silence. The afternoon sun dangled in the sky above the clouds, like it resting on top of them. "He isn't coming back…" Butch sighed. The ruff leader rolled his eyes. "I'm amazed he didn't try anything against dad, honestly…" Brick admitted. They were referring to Boomer, though the red ruff was aware that their blue sibling could never get too aggressive against their creator. In fact, any argument, he seemed to cave in immediately. "Maybe we should just go, too," Butch suggested leaving home, giving up on their creator. They couldn't even see him as anything more than an uncaring parent or anything, but just an insane villain who was willing to risk anything for an end goal that didn't even have a big upside to them than being labelled assistants.

"And go where? We'd look dumb walking out, only to come back a week later like kids…" Brick tried to defuse the idea. But it was a tempting thought the more he thought on it. He really couldn't come up with anything else. He didn't even have a leader title to his name now that the Rowdyruff boys were just two instead of three. It felt more like the pathetic twins. "Anything's better than there, right?" Butch joked. His red sibling laid back on the hill they shared, staring at the sky. "I hate making decisions like this…" he groaned. If it was huge, he had to decide on the group normally, since it was a voted tie breaker kind of deal. But now it wasn't even an argument. "If we could just find Boomer, I'd do it instantly…" Brick stated, with not one clue where the blonde brother was. If they had, they would head to him and remake the Rowdyruff group. Just then, Brick realized Butch had his thinking face on that never meant anything good.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Butch declared. "I know you do, and I'm just gonna say no," Brick pre-emptively spoke while scratching his head. "I mean how we can find him! He's got powers. We just gotta cause trouble everywhere and he'll be forced to use them to escape, right? We just look for a single blue light in the sky!" he exclaimed in glee at the excitement of finding their sibling. Brick couldn't deny it. His brother had a good plan for once. Finding a single streak of light and avoiding the one in a group would be easier, but he had to ask himself; if they did cause that much trouble, would it really be worth it in the end. "Well… I got nothin'. Keep talkin'," he agreed just letting the green ruff begin discussing their plan.

Buttercup sat and watched Boomer. She had spent maybe two hours with him already trying out various ideas of a special power of his, that she actually had a checklist written down for what didn't work. Her boyfriend laid on the ground, panting tiredly. "I don't think invisibility is it, BC…" he moaned, having spent ten minutes in a blind concentration to try and turn himself invisible. She crossed it off the list. "Maybe quick healing?" she recommended, though one look at him removed any idea of that from her mind. She sat the paper aside before getting up and approaching him. "What are you doing?" he questioned, expecting a painful hit to his side instead. She lifted his shirt a little. "I don't hit you that often, calm down," she reassured, wanting to view the injury to see if it had improved much.

Buttercup could see his side clearly. It looked like someone had taken a blow torch to him to heal him, but it was improving. It was aching more than ever lately. Cauterizing a wound always had that side effect of practically sending someone to a burn ward immediately after treatment. "Uh, yeah… so what's next?" Boomer requested, wanting to not talk about his old injuries. Even though it was how they got to know each other, he hated to think of his suicidal mindset back then. The green Puff felt dumb wasting time like this in training. They had no reason to be doing it. He wasn't going to fight the Powerpuffs anymore now that he wasn't a Rowdyruff. And yet here she was, still spending a few days a week training him like he was hoping to reunite with his family to his own disappointment when it never occurred.

"Why don't we just… enjoy the time we got," Buttercup gave up. A special power from him wasn't likely at all. Boomer saw her eyes. It resembled a look of being deep in thought. Boomer kissed her on the cheek, both that and the other cheek blush crimson red from this sudden affectionate act. "You look cute when you're worried. Maybe we should start doing something beyond hitting boxes for hanging out," he teased, though he was noticing the time. The sun was beginning to set on the day.

"Yeah… look. How about this Saturday we go out for a real date?" Buttercup relaxed to his idea. The most boxes he could smash now was 23, and he certainly wasn't getting any faster accuracy. His heat vision couldn't improve much either. It felt like he reached his limit. She couldn't think of any other reason why she insisted on training him even after acknowledging this fact. But it would just be unfair if he got nothing for comforting her. "Sure. It'll be the best," he got a big smile on his face, giving a wave before she flew off, leaving a green streak of light behind. Things felt just perfect for Boomer. He just wished he didn't feel lonely on the days without her. He let out a sigh and began to walk, not feeling like flying much himself to get home, hoping to find something of interest while on foot.


	12. Breakout

Brick and Butch were at the jailhouse. Brick was sitting alongside one of the walls inside the fence. It was the wall that was the yard where most prisoners went to work out or to burn off steam. "So where'd you get this?" Brick asked while Butch was setting an obvious explosive on the wall with little care for the damage all of the criminals within would cause to the town, doubting it would be any more than a regular giant monster level of damage. "Stole it from dad's lab," Butch hummed while turning on the timer for twenty seconds. It gave the two ample time to fly up high in the sky to get out of the way. They watched and waited, and finally the explosion came. Debris went flying, bricks and rock being turned into shards of stone. A huge gaping hole remained in place of the wall. It didn't even take two seconds for prisoners to begin pouring out like boiling water. "Whoa… they're like ants," Brick had to admit. It was a creepy sightseeing how eager they were to escape. "Whatever. It should work," his green sibling didn't care still. The two flew off before anyone could realize they were behind this.

Boomer was lost in his thoughts while walking back to the foreclosed building he called home. Along his walk, he noticed an odd sight. There stood a bald man in an orange jumpsuit who was trying to break into a postal box with a crowbar. Boomer rolled his eyes. "A lucky moron escaped jail…" he thought going over and swiping the crowbar from him. "Hey! What's the big ide-" the man got cut off midsentence when the crowbar whacked right into his knee. That man let out a howl of agony before falling over, his leg being broken from one superpowered strike "Sorry. Just needed to think," the blonde boy sighed. He just didn't want his girlfriend to get bothered by one idiot thief.

Boomer raised an eyebrow though, hearing the sound of glass shattering. He saw a nearby electronic store that was now being looted by about four muscular men. "I think I'll need to borrow this," he said, picking the crowbar back up before beginning to approach the store, remembering Buttercup complaining about being awoken in the middle of the night so often that made him at least want to do something to help her if he could. "CALL ME AN AMBULANCE!" the man screamed, holding his broken leg. The blue boy ignored his cries as he entered the electronic shop through the window, the same way the criminals had gotten in.

"Get out before ya get hurt, kid," the first man closest to him spoke, having a stereo on his shoulder. Seeing the four men all look at him, Boomer rolled his eyes. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to stop," he responded, only to hear the mocking laughter of the inmates. He didn't feel afraid. Instead, he felt brave. Being tag teamed by four regular people wasn't much of a threat. Boomer pulled back his arm, ready to put his strength right into this fight. He hit the first man in the jaw with the crowbar, knocking out a few teeth. He threw the tool away after. "Come on then," Boomer grinned. The next escaped criminal attempted to pulverise him overhead with an oversized speaker. Boomer just broke the speaker into pieces before punching him in the stomach and throwing him aside. Then he used his heat vision to assault the next criminal. Burning him partially did enough to render him unconscious.

Boomer approached the final convict standing, who just seemed to be frozen with fear. "So, you give up?" he asked. He received a nod from the agreeing man. The blonde boy went over to a nearby phone and attempted to use it to call 911 after waiting for a few short rings. Finally, someone answered. "Yes, police department? I caught some escaped convicts…" he tried to explain the situation, but he was cut off by the dispatcher. "Sir, SWAT teams are being dispatched to deal with a lot of escaped convicts. No units are available. Please avoid contact and do not attempt to detain," the 911 operator responded. Boomer hung up, now just confused. "What is going on…?" he wondered, surrounded by wires connected to an electronic. When he noticed, he decided to put them to use and tie up the criminals before he made his way back outside. It felt nice to be acting like a vigilante, a rewarding sense that was only being overwhelmed with confusion. He decided to continue his walk to find out what was going on. He knew it meant that his girlfriend was probably going to be busy, no matter what.

At the Utonium household, Buttercup and Blossom were watching television, trying to relax after their individual long days, while their father was trying to work on his next invention. Just then, they heard the all too familiar ringing noise. "I got it!" Bubbles chimed from upstairs, going to the emergency hotline and picking it up. "Yes, mayor?" she cheerfully answered, only to hear nothing but his usual scared voice on the other end of the line. "Oh, it's awful! Someone attacked the prison! Over two hundred criminals escaped!" he cried. She didn't exactly know what to consider this; either a huge threat or a minor one. Prison breakouts were common, but this sounded bigger. She slammed the phone on the receiver and darted downstairs in a streak of blue light.

"Blossom! Buttercup! Part of the jail's been destroyed!" Bubbles announced. "What?! How even…" Buttercup growled. "Doesn't matter. We have to get out there and keep the damage as minimal as possible," Blossom declared, her sisters agreeing. "Bubbles, you go and make sure no one else escapes the prison. Buttercup, me and you are going to have a lot of fighting to do," she ordered. With that, they separated, flying off to the sky, leaving streaks of light behind them.

Buttercup just kept up alongside Blossom. Pretty much any fugitive wearing orange she planned to hit. She was more worried about her boyfriend, though. She was aware the prison was a good distance from his home. But still. She was aware at how unpredictable some criminals could be.


	13. Unhappy reunion

Boomer was panting, standing in an alley. He was trying to catch his breath. At least seven orange jumpsuit wearing lunatics were around him, unconscious. The young boy had bruises and cuts on his face. "If I keep wasting my energy like this, I'm going to pass out…" he coughed, having had to use a variety of random blunt objects and his powers to make these fights any easier. Fighting hand to hand was hard when surrounded, and it seemed like these escaped convicts were moving in packs of at least five. Boomer thought he needed to get somewhere safe to rest, but nowhere seemed all too safe at this point. He couldn't go running to the police. They would recognize who he was and detain him immediately. Or at least he assumed so, but he couldn't tell if the Rowdyruff Boys even were an acknowledgeable threat to the city anymore. He decided to try and catch his breath, so he took off to the sky, leaving his dark blue streak of light behind him, hoping to stay low enough near the buildings so that he wouldn't be so spotted.

Unfortunately, attempting to remain undetected didn't work out like he hoped. "Look!" Brick said while they were flying high in the sky. They could see the colour trail ahead. They had done multiple rounds around the city, mostly sticking to alleys, and finally it paid off. "Good. He's actually still in town…" Butch was relieved, close to being angry at the thought of wasting all this time for nothing. They both were excited, glad to see he was at least alive. They immediately began to chase him.

Boomer was flying, trying to keep an eye out for an inaccessible rooftop or anything like that. So far it seemed like an average street full of apartments. He gave in. He felt weak, wasting all his energy in flight in the threat of any fight would just be stupid. He reluctantly landed on the first roof. He could barely stand, and could only balance on one knee. "Oough… all this time… and I'm still failing," he joked to the emptiness around him. He spent so long training with Buttercup. Yet he felt like a complete failure. But for some reason, he just couldn't accept that as a fact. Not one bit. "Boomer!" a familiar voice rung out. He wondered if he was starting to go insane.

Boomer stared when he saw his brothers landing nearby him. "Butch…? Brick…? What're you guys doing here?" he asked, not sure how to feel about seeing them again. A mix of unsettling nerves and joy was the only emotion, though he was rattled. "We followed you," Brick coughed, not wanting to go into detail about how exactly they found him. "Jeez, you look awful," Butch commented on just seeing his blonde sibling's bruised and battered face. "Nothing new… Whadd'ya want? Did dad send you to get me with some apology?" Boomer questioned, his eyes glazing over, his attention span slowly going to the cloudy sky. "No. We were worried," Brick admitted. They had offered to help their brother when their father first kicked him out, but they couldn't recommend anything more than assaulting their creator.

Boomer didn't know whether to believe them on this or not. The way they looked like they hadn't slept much in a day or two was a sign to this. "It's nice to see you at least. But I'm fine, I swear. I just keep having to beat up these convicts," he relaxed, trying to alert them to an already obvious threat that had occurred. "Beat up? Dude, you could've just avoided them," Butch said while offering his hand to him. The blue Ruff took the offer of help. "I know. But they're everywhere. They might even be at my place trying to hide. I've only beaten about thirty up, but they just won't stop," he complained, feeling partially insane at the imagination of how many escaped convicts there were. He wondered what was going on. The other Ruffs looked at each other, presuming it was better to let him in so he could calm down.

"It's how we found you. We figured letting out some prisoners would help us find you," Butch explained. Their blonde brother's eyes were wide as he jerked his hand away from his grip. "…what do you mean?" he stuttered. "We just broke one section of the prison and let a bunch get a one night pass at helping us find you. We thought you wouldn't fight as much as run, but still it worked," Brick elaborated further. A surge of adrenaline and rage was starting to course through Boomer, just by imagining this, trying to theorize it all, like his ears refused to hear it right. "You guys… you guys did this!? A lot of people are going to be hurt! I wasn't worth this!" he screamed. The thought of so many getting hurt, especially his girlfriend was starting to put a lot of bad images in his head that practically gave him a headache.

"Dude, calm down! Since when do you care?" Butch found it odd. A year ago, they just enjoyed the show of this kind of harassment to the town, but Boomer was now having the opposite reaction. "Yeah. The Powerpuff Girls will clean it up in a minute," Brick added, seeing that tiredness get replaced by hatred was unexpected. They doubted he wanted to hear it, but still. "No they won't. If you let out this many, what's going to stop those escapees from turning Townsville to a dead yard! I gotta go," Boomer was ready to fly off. He gave up. No more hiding. He just wanted to find Buttercup right now. But then he got stopped by his green brother. "We just found you again, and as hurt as you are, you aren't going anywhere," Brick reminded him. This was making Boomer act curious. "Are you a Ruff anymore? You said ya broke dad's robot a while back to protect yourself, but now you care for the townsfolk? What's going on?" he continued his partial interrogation.

"I realized we were idiots… all of us," Boomer growled, shoving Butch off him. "I'm happier than ever, since I got thrown out. I do want you guys in my life, but not like this. Especially not like this," he stated. He wanted nothing to do with them now. They were going overboard, so much that it scared him. They had done dangerous things to threaten harm to people, but at least a hundred threatening prisoners of various charges was even more damage than the three of them would do in their past boredom.

"Who're you calling idiots? And you of all people realizing this?" Brick retorted. The repertoire was getting tiring. Boomer pointed behind them. His brothers looked to the distance. They could see various smoke filling the sky in the distance, mostly from fires beginning from the riots. "Someone I care for more is in danger now. Either you leave me alone, or I'll make you leave me alone. Otherwise, you help. Dad's either going to reward you guys after this stunt, or somehow get mad that it ruined one of his fifty plans," with that said, Boomer had flown off, having gotten some of his energy back. Brick and Butch looked at his blue streak in the sky. They didn't realize the scale of the damage that could happen before the Powerpuff Girls even arrived. Minor failures in big victories always overlooked positives over negatives. "So what do we do now?" Butch had to express what the both of them were thinking.

"Just shut up for a second and let me think," Brick began to brainstorm.


	14. Brothers help

Buttercup was sitting on some stone steps, taking a short breather. She had spent the time so far with her sister just assisting the police in riot control. She looked at the various police vehicles that were being filled with bruised and assaulted convicts. It was easy in a sense working with a crowd of armed police. A little tear gas and then it went from there. "Good work so far. I think we've got half now," Blossom's voice chimed while approaching her black haired sister. "Thanks. Now we just gotta find the next hundred, if they haven't skipped town," Buttercup didn't feel any more relaxed, but instead felt only tenser. Seeing the fire in the distance that just started to brew in the sky, it only indicated where they were soon going to head to try and apprehend more of the criminals.

"Usually you enjoy stuff like this," Blossom commented, though aware that neither of them found it fun to be stuck out late. "Usually. It just has me worrying too much to enjoy it…" she admitted. The Puff leader didn't take it as any more than just worry for the civilians that so far hadn't been a huge casualty rate, thankfully. The convicts were interested in looting more than mass destruction, though the fires indicated they were starting to get more uncaring for anything beyond ruining or trying to find some enjoyment in the night.

They saw the familiar light blue streak in the sky flying toward them. They saw Bubbles land in front of them. "Well, the prison wasn't as bad as the mayor made it out to be. It just took one big rock to cover the hole," she claimed, Blossom rubbing her head. "That should do it until it can be reconstructed," she nodded. Things were starting to look calmer. "Alright. Let's get this over with," Buttercup insisted. She wanted to be done so she could go check up on Boomer, worried about how he would be or how he would react to this situation. It was getting annoying to her, to have someone to worry about. She hadn't thought about anything but him in danger. She didn't want to imagine it, assuming he would be smart and escape any fight he couldn't handle. The Powerpuff Girls flew off to the fire to begin and defuse the next situation.

Boomer kept up his fast flight, glad he had his energy back, though his face was still sore. He thought the most obvious place to go was the area of buildings that was being lit ablaze. He still was upset at his brothers. He was unsure how to interpret it all beyond a new boiling rage in his system that was the only reason he wasn't unconscious. He suddenly got hit by a huge cloud of smoke that came out of nowhere. When he emerged from it, he was coughing and hacking. "What the heck?!" he growled, seeing another building had been caught in the blaze mid-flight. There were two prisoners trying to enjoy the new arson target.

Boomer dove onto the ground behind them, with a hard slam. Before the two foes could react, or even turn around, Boomer grabbed them both by their legs and spun around, throwing them into a nearby wall. It didn't help much to relieve the anger, though. He saw a small water tower on the roof of the building. He focused his heat vision on it enough to just break it to pieces, watching the water drench the building and instantly douse the fire. "That's one building… but how many more are being lit…?" he pondered, trying to just do a quick analysis of his surroundings. He spotted two medium sized buildings being consumed in flames. "Darn it. How am I going to handle these?" there wasn't any easy access of water conveniently around, and even if he put it out, there was a good chance another building would be lit ablaze.

"I need a plan…" he muttered, trying to think. He was aware that using plans meant for three people would end horribly for him. Suddenly a light bulb went off in his head. Boomer quickly flew up in the air and got close to the blaze. He began to spin as fast as he could. Faster and faster he went, until he finally generated a small tornado that was beginning to exhaust the flames. The buildings quickly lost all fire within them. Smoke was blown in all eight directions, though sadly his energy was at its limit. He began to slow down. He held out as long as he could, but he got forced onto the ground.

Boomer groaned. Sweat was pouring off from his head. It didn't help that he was slightly dizzy. Now he could see nothing but an angry crowd of convicts. "Ruining our fun, eh?" one grinned. "Guess we need a new dummy," another spoke out, looking ready to make him their new ragdoll for entertainment. Boomer gave up. Trying to be a hero, it felt good, but he was outmatched. He couldn't even react. One smack across the face by a lead pipe threw him on the asphalt. His face already felt sore, but that rattled his teeth. He noticed a random small pieces of rubble that were falling onto the ground nearby, not that the convicts cared. They were about to beat him within an inch of his life. He heard the sound of creaking and snapping, which felt relieving.

Boomer was realizing the feeling was all too familiar. It was the same feeling he had months ago. Calm and peaceful, in bliss near death. He kept one eye open at the building, seeing part of it collapse. The fire had ravaged away at it far too much. The peacefulness and how slow everything felt, he hated it this time. He stared up at what was about to kill him and a good few prisoners that were too stunned to move, having been preoccupied assaulting the young boy.

Everything just had stopped. He waited eyes closed. But nothing happened. Fe forced himself on his back to see what had occurred. The familiar vague figure was holding the debris in the air. "B…Butch?" he coughed. "Catch!" the green ruff laughed, throwing the rubble at the convicts that made them scatter like a disassembled group of ants. The blonde boy was being helped onto his feet, before he knew it.

"Man. You really are fast to get into trouble now," Brick said. Boomer tried to get a better look at his brothers, but Brick just had that look of being unsure in his eyes. Butch though was enjoying this so far. "What are you guys doing here?" Boomer growled. He couldn't come off as threatening now that he was near unconscious himself. "Boredom like always," Butch responded, getting ready for the fight that was about to break out for the three of them.


	15. Calming

Boomer could only watch Brick and Butch. He was trying to process it all. They were actually trying to help him this time. He ached all over, but watching his brothers fight was bringing back too many memories of their past antics. So far, they had been handling the gang of convicts well aside from how they seemed to just keep coming, like the fight only drew more of them from around the area. But Boomer didn't know how to feel about this. Every now and then a convict would attempt to assault the blonde boy while he was weak, but he was able to hold his own at those attempts.

"This is a lot more fun than I thought it'd be," Butch had to admit while ripping out a street light from the sidewalk. He grinned like it was a light baseball bat and swung it with all of his super strength in a sweeping motion, batting and crippling at least twenty people and knocking them around. The Green Rowdyruff was starting to enjoy beating up criminals. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Brick though was more aggressive. There he was, punching one man in the jaw and knocking a few teeth of his out before spinning around and punching another away before that convict would counterattack. "I've lost count. Was that eighteen or twenty?" he groaned, it was starting to get tiring, and the least they could just carry Boomer to safety if needed.

Boomer firing his heat vision to blast another convict that had tried to sneak up on Butch. They were starting to realize that the surrounding group of thugs were now converging on them entirely. The three Ruffs regrouped. The blonde boy didn't feel up to fighting much more. "But… why did you guys come back for me?" Boomer just had to ask one more time before they got into a bigger fight. "You were right. Fifty plans every day that we ran around to help build that all failed. Dad just isn't worth the effort," Brick elaborated how they wasted so much energy and time trying to do one plan, above the tons of plans a day that drained them. "Either way, he'll be happier…" Butch added before throwing one of their opponents over his shoulder and flat on the ground.

Boomer was glad they finally listened to him for once. It took his practical mental snap to get it through though. But he was relieved to at least not be alone in his dire times before. The fight could continue, they noticed a cold chill start to fill the air, and a good half of the prisoners in the back began to get frozen alive. "Oh man…! I know what this is…" Brick shivered, recognizing the familiar breeze. They could only just watch as the wind finally stopped, and they noticed the many frozen inmates standing there. Any that weren't were stuck between the solidified bodies.

"What are you guys doing here?" a familiar chime hit their ears. "Dang it. Fun's over," Butch sighed, Boomer looking awkwardly away as the Powerpuff Girls had arrived to save them. Luckily the Rowdyruff boys had handled a majority of the situation, just enough that one long icy breath from blossom handled the rest. Blossom and Bubbles were staring at Brick and Butch, waiting for an answer from them. Buttercup didn't really care much for her sisters' focus right now. She was ignoring the confrontation entirely just to approach Boomer.

"Boomer! …you look awful…" Buttercup put a hand on his cheek. It hurt badly for Boomer, but seeing her safe relieved him immensely, though he felt like he panicked a little too much at the news of a prison escape like this. His heartbeat slowed down as he took her hand in his. "I feel a lot better," Boomer smiled. The two looked as if oblivious to anything else around them but each other. "Buttercup, what are you doing?" Bubbles asked.

"Making sure my boyfriend's okay," Buttercup answered, simple as that. Boomer put his arm around her, pulling her into a close hug. "Dude, what?" Butch went a bit wide eyed at his green counterpart's announcement. "Yeah. About that… she's been helping me for a pretty good while…" Boomer coughed, still aching badly. "So that's what you've been doing!" Blossom realized. Everything just suddenly fell into place immediately. Leaving after school to participate in various activities that made no sense together always confused the orange haired girl.

Brick didn't care much for his brother's announcement. He considered it a good thing. He had a girlfriend. Even if it was a Powerpuff, it did explain why he had changed so much before their father had kicked him out. There wasn't much chance any of them were going to get back home, either. "Look. We already beat up a lot of the prisoners. Can we just call it even here and not start fighting?" Brick requested. He and Butch started this mess in the first place, but now he just wanted to hide that fact, well away from them. But Blossom still looked too overwhelmed.

"We can talk about it more, later. Let's get him to the hospital," Bubbles drew the attention off her blue counterpart and her sister. "…thanks, Bubbles," Buttercup smiled. The supportive nature was appreciated greatly. "Uh… y-yeah, yeah. Just hurry up. We're all going," Blossom decided. It was best to just leave it to the police to gather the frozen prisoners before they focused efforts on helping Boomer. Boomer had no idea what to expect. So far they seemed calm for the announcement, but that might just be a lack of energy from all of the fighting that lasted for hours.


	16. The end

It had been hours since the couple had been unveiled. Things had calmed down dramatically ever since the last of the convicts had presumably been apprehended thanks to their combined efforts. They were all in one hospital room now, where there was nothing but an awkward silent atmosphere. Blossom and Bubbles were standing nearby. Boomer just lay on the hospital bed with his bruises, looking a lot better. Buttercup sat beside him, holding his hand, while Brick and Butch were just off to the side

"So… mind telling us how you two hooked up?" Brick broke the silence. The couple doubted it mattered now what they told them. "I tried to kill myself a while back. She found me and helped me," Boomer began admitting the suicide attempt, which seemed to just already strike deep in their minds. It explained why he was so much slower back then from trying to recover over the damage. "I told him about that guy we couldn't save a few months back. And he made me feel better. I offered to train with him so he wouldn't feel weak anymore. And I guess it paid off," Buttercup continued. Just thinking back on it was making her feel embarrassed, and it helped not that she was awaiting her sisters' reaction. She didn't want to imagine how their father would take it if informed, either.

"Geez… sorry for letting ya feel that bad, Boomer. You're right about dad, though," Butch reminded him, not believing that he and Brick ignoring the stress and depression to overwhelm him helped at all. But the guilt was lightened, seeing how happy Boomer was now. "But hey! Congratulations, you two," Bubbles hummed. She didn't mind this either, though she didn't like to meddle in other people's relationships. Even if an argument started, she was surely going to just wait in the hallway until it ended. "Thanks, Bubbles…" Buttercup smiled. The blonde girl liked the more cheerful attitude her sister had lately. Knowing why now just made it less worrisome.

Buttercup was just waiting for her leader Blossom to start shouting at her face. "Normally I'd prioritize just putting you three under arrest. But you guys are really doing the opposite of villainy at this point," Blossom told them. She didn't care much for arresting any of the Rowdyruffs. "If he's making you happy and train more, I'm happy with it… as long as they don't go causing trouble for us that much," she said. Buttercup felt relieved, hearing her orange sibling's approval. Personally Blossom was more enjoying the fact that her sister had been so happy that they rarely fought. "So you two are homeless now, too?" Bubbles wondered aloud, Brick nodding. "We can't go back. Dad started wanting to do bodily experiments," he claimed, not wanting to get stuck in some freak lab accident.

"Well… I helped Boomer. Maybe I can help all three of you?" Buttercup suggested. Brick and Butch pondered this, not sure whether this was an insult to them being weak or not. "Do we get treated as good as him?" Butch joked, then receiving a glare from her that made him shut up. "Well… if you girls don't mind, I'd appreciate it," Brick accepted. He was tired of fighting with them anymore. Boomer was relieved that things were still calm by the end of it all. He could do nothing more than smile over it, to have new friends, and his brothers to be uncaring to who was his girlfriend.

One month had passed after this. Boomer lay half asleep on a couch. Though he suddenly got thrown off of it and onto the floor. "Ow…!" Boomer groaned. "Time to get up," Brick laughed. They were both in a small sized living room that didn't have much in it beyond the couch and one reclining chair. "Come on. I don't even have to work today…" Boomer whined. "Yeah, well me and Butch do. So if we gotta wake up early, you do too," the boy in red claimed what he thought was all in fairness. He then walked away to get ready himself.

Boomer sighed, getting off the floor and heading to a small kitchen. He could see Butch who was just sitting by the counter, eating his breakfast idly. "Morning, Boomer. Whaddya got planned today?" Butch asked. Since his brother wasn't working, he assumed he had something planned. The Powerpuff Girls had helped them a lot on helping them seek jobs. Brick had gotten himself a job as a bouncer for some popular club, and Butch was stuck as a construction worker, not that he complained about it. They had been able to survive so far, a lot better than Boomer was doing alone in some foreclosed home. They have a rundown apartment, at least.

"A date with Buttercup…" Boomer answered, looking at the clock which only struck 8:30 in the morning. "…Go on?" Butch waited for him to continue. His brother was a bit shy at explaining details of what they were going to do. "W-we're going to the fair to celebrate everything going well so far," he explained. She was supposed to be there soon. He wondered how long he was sleeping in. "Cool! Have fun with that. I'm stuck repairing one of the two office buildings that got wrecked by the last giant monster…" Butch grumbled, getting angry just by thinking about it. Sometimes a construction project would get destroyed midway by another giant monster. It kept him paid well though. It was like playing building blocks and just waiting for the big bad bully to knock them over.

The two brothers saw Brick come into the kitchen, wearing a grey suit and a red tie. He still had his red hat on. Usually he got stuck on night shifts, but every weekend was different at his workplace. The most he did was stand still and occasionally throw someone out. "I'll see ya guys later," Brick said. Boomer and Butch bid him goodbye and watched him head for the door. But upon opening it, he saw the familiar green Powerpuff standing there mid knock. "Oh, hi, Brick. Is Boomer ready?" she awkwardly greeted. They still had been getting along with her so far, but it still felt off. She just had to get used to it. "Yeah, yeah. Have fun with'em," he walked past her to get to work.

Buttercup saw Boomer approach her, closing the door behind him. "Excited for the fair?" he grinned while pulling her into a hug. "You know I am. Wanna race there?" Buttercup smiled back. "You bet!" Boomer agreed. Thus the two darted off to the sky, leaving their respective dark blue and green streaks of light behind them. Things were calm, and normal, and the Powerpuffs didn't have to worry about that super powered group as much now.

And Boomer and Buttercup couldn't be any more thankful for the chain of events that had transpired for them.

**The end...**

**Authors note: Hope you all enjoyed the fanfic, I appreciated all the support I had while writing it.**


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